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Tobacco out, hemp in for Tennessee farmers

77 points| jelliclesfarm | 6 years ago |sfgate.com | reply

29 comments

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[+] oflannabhra|6 years ago|reply
> So those folks are used to managing a high-value crop, a high-labor crop, managing a lot of labor...

> You use the same resources if you do tobacco as you do hemp. You have the same tractors, the same planting equipment. You have the same regimen to get the plant ready for the year. Popping your seeds are the same and doing all that

Clearly, the biggest driver of this shift is CBD oil. Here in KY, there are tons of shops opening up, but also production facilities. Millions of dollars have poured in (lots from CA) to process hemp into CBD products.

It makes me wonder what would happen to our economy were farming marijuana to be legalized. All these areas have years of history growing high labor cash crops, and even though a lot of that infrastructure is gone or shrunk (tobacco warehouses, etc), the skill is still there.

[+] jrace|6 years ago|reply
Just wait until they find out you can make paper from hemp, at a much higher yield than with trees - and a much quicker regrow rate.

it is not just CBD that can come from hemp

[+] jelliclesfarm|6 years ago|reply
Automation necessary. Prices will come crashing down tho’ now that everyone is growing it.

Even the Amish are happy. It will save a lot of farm business bottomlines. Dairy farms are especially watching carefully.

[+] username444|6 years ago|reply
It's not just CBD. Hemp seeds are an amazingly nutrient rich food. Sibling comments mentioned it can be used in fabrics and paper. It's an amazingly versatile product that's been unfortunately supressed in the war on drugs.
[+] drdeadringer|6 years ago|reply
I wonder if there is anything similar going on in western Massachusetts, e.g. the Pioneer Valley area including such towns as Hadley and the surrounding areas, where tobacco barns are not an uncommon sight.

Perhaps a change has already started but I am currently personally unsure; for better or worse I moved away a good number of years ago due to college and work and have yet to move back [should that be in my future or desires].

[+] jscheel|6 years ago|reply
Interesting. I live at ground zero in this article, but I haven’t noticed much hemp. I’ll have to go out and look a bit closer at the fields this weekend.
[+] iamnotacrook|6 years ago|reply
Why do Americans always call it hemp or, more frequently, marijuana? It's cannabis.
[+] Rebelgecko|6 years ago|reply
I think hemp and cannabis come from the same Old English root word. However hemp is normally used to refer to the industrial plants, as opposed to the higher THC ones with more recreational potential. Supposedly the term marijuana became popular back in the "reefer madness" days because it had more of a racial connotation, but I don't know how accurate that is.
[+] jelliclesfarm|6 years ago|reply
One is cannibis indica and the other sativa. Marijuana has THC and CBD. Only one kind of hemp is grown for CBD..no THC. The rest is called industrial hemp for paper/fiber etc.